Apparatus for removing a covering from core material



March y 319%? e. M. DENNEY fi fi- -C i ifl APPARATUS FOR REMOVING A COVERING FROM CORE MATERIAL Filed Aug. 16, 1965 Hill.

ZNVENTGR GARVEY 3V1. DENNEY Afiomiav jMw, g wk/(kw, m 1 W United States Patent Ofitice 3,39,947 Patented Mar. 21, 1967 3,309,947 APPARATUS FOR REMOVING A COVERING FROM CORE MATERIAL Garvy M. Denney, Can'ollton, Ga., assignor to Southwire Company, Carrollton, Ga, a corporation of Georgia Filed Aug. 16, 1965, Ser. No. 479,913 2 Claims. (Cl. 81-951) This invention relates generally to an apparatus for removing a covering from a core material and more particularly, to an apparatus for stripping a covering from a core material by forming in the covering a strained or weakened area in which the covering splits or tears as the covering is forced away from the core material.

In the manufacture of a product having a core material with a covering therearound, it is often necessary that damaged or improper covering be stripped from the core material in order that the core material be reclaimed for further use. Numerous devices and methods have been used in the past for this purpose. These previous devices and methods have usually stripped a covering from a core material by cutting the covering and subsequently separating the covering from around the core material with a conventional stripping cone. As a cut has been made in the covering, the covering has been frequently pierced to such an extent that the cutting tool has scratched, scarred or otherwise damaged the core material.

This difficulty can be avoided with previous devices and methods only by careful control of the depth to which the covering is cut. Such control is diflicult to achieve where a soft covering, such as rubber, plastic or polyethylene insulation, is being removed from relatively stiff core material such as metal rod or wire. This is because bends or kinks in such core material are not easily straightened and result in the covering being penetrated to various depths, including those depths at which the cutting tool completely pierces the covering and damages the core material.

The invention disclosed herein overcomes these and other difficulties previously encountered in removing a covering from a core material in that with the device and method of the invention, the covering is not cut at all. Rather an edge too dull to cut, or otherwise pierce the covering is forced against the covering so as to form a weakened or strained area in the covering. Since the edge is dull, the edge simply forces bends and kinks from the core material without piercing the covering as the cover ing moves relative to the edge. This eliminates the careful control necessary with previous devices and methods in order to prevent the scratching, scarring or otherwise damaging of core material by a tool which pierces a covering as it cuts the covering.

Once an area of the covering is weakened or strained, a stripping cone or other means for forcing the covering away from the core material will readily split or tear the covering in the weakened strained area since this area has less strength than the remainder of the covering. The split covering is easily removed or separated for the core material. Thus, the invention permits core material to be reclaimed in an unscratched and unscarred condition so that it may be readily reused.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan View of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a deforming tool for forming a weakened or strained area in a covering;

'28 of the tool 21 is forced against the covering 26.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a stripping cone for splitting the covering in a weakened or strained area and separating the covering for the core material.

These drawings and the following specification disclose one specific embodiment of the invention, however, it is to be understood that this embodiment is shown as means of illustrating the inventive concept and that the invention may be embodied in other equivalent forms without departing from the inventive concept disclosed herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, it is seen that the apparatus of the invention comprises a support 10 which at one end carries a rotatably mounted playoff reel 11, and at the other end carried a rotatably mounted take-up reel 12. Metal wire or other core material 25 enclosed within a covering 26, such as rubber insulation, is carried by the playoff reel 11, and the take-up reel 12 receives the core material 25 after the covering 26 has been separated from the core material 25. Interposed between the playoff reel 11 and the takeup reel 12 is a deforming mechanism 14 for forming a weakened or strained area or strip along the length of the covering 26. Interposed on the support 10 between the deforming mechanism 14 and the take-up reel 12 is a stripping cone 15.

A first pair of positioning rolls 16 are positioned between the deforming mechanism 14 and the playoff reel 11, and a second pair of positioning rolls 18 are positioned between the stripping cone 15 and the take-up reel 12. The positioning rolls 16 are rotatably mounted on a support stanchion 16a and have grooved outer peripheries shaped to receive the covering 26 the core material 25 enclosed therein. The positioning rolls 18 are rotatably mounted on a support stanchion 18a and have grooved outer peripheries shaped to receive the core material 25 with the covering 26 removed. The positioning rolls 16 and 18 maintain the covering 26 and core material 25 in alignment with the deforming mechanism 14 and stripping cone 15 regardless of the position on the playoff reel 11 of the core material 25 and the covering 26 and regardless of the position of the core matenial 25 on the take-up reel 12. This assures that the covering 26 will be properly removed from the core material 25.

The take-up reel 12 is rotatably driven by a motor 20 and rotation of the take-up reel 12 serves to pull the core material 25 through the entire apparatus. Suitable braking means (not shown) is used to retard rotation of the playoff reel 11. Thus, the core material 26 is maintained in tension between the playoff reel 11 and take-up reel 12.

Referring to FIG. 3, the deforming mechanism 14 is seen to comprise generally a deforming tool 21 and a positioning roll 22 rotatably mounted on a support arm 24. In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein the tool 21 is a disk with a dull periphery 28. It will be understood, however, that other tools may be used to carry out the inventive concept disclosed herein. Regardless of the embodiment used, the periphery 28 of the tool 21 is sufiiciently broad or dull to not cut or tear the covering 26 when the periphery 28 is forced against the covering 26.

The positioning roll 22 is positioned to receive the core material 25 and the covering 26 in a groove 29 during passage of the core material 25 from the positioning rolls 16 to the positioning rolls 18. The groove 29 in the periphery of the positioning roll 22 is shaped so that the centerline of the core material 25 is maintained in a constant position with respect to the tool 21. The tool 21 is positioned above the groove 29 so that the periphery In order to vary the force applied by the tool 21 to a covering 26 and to accommodate different sizes of core material 25 and covering 26, means (not shown) is provided 3 to adjust the position of the tool 21 With respect to the roll 22.

Regardless of the size of the core material 25 and covering 26, the position of the tool 21 is adjusted so that the covering 26 is deformed suificiently to become permanently weakened or strained in that area or zone engaged by the periphery 28 of the tool 21. In that embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, this action of the tool 21 and the motion of the covering 26 relative to the tool 21 results in a weakened or strained area or zone as indicated at 27 along the length of the covering 26. This weakened area 27 has less strength than other portions of the covering 26.

Referring to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the stripping cone 15 is carried by cone supports 24 attached to the support and is of a type commonly used in stripping operations. The cone has a passage therethrough (not shown) just large enough to receive the core material 25 and is positioned so that its vertex receives the core material 25 as it passes between the positioning rolls 16 and 18 after passage between the tool 21 and positioning roll 22. Thus, the cone 15 is inserted between the core material 25 and the covering 26 as the core material 25 is pulled through the cone 15 toward the take-up reel 12. The result is that the covering 26 is forced outwardly away from the core material 25.

As the covering 26 is forced outwardly by the cone 15, the covering 26 is stretched so that is splits or tears in the weakened or strained area 27 since the covering 26 is weaker in the area 27 than elsewhere. Once split, the covering 26 readily separates from the core material 25 by further movement relative to the cone 15. This permits the core material 25 to pass alone and unscratched and unscarred to the take-up reel 12.

Thus, it will be seen that with the invention, core material 25 having a covering 26 therearound is reclaimed by deforming the covering 26 to form a weakened or strained area 27 at which the covering 26 splits when forced away from the core material. The covering 26 is not pierced or otherwise cut by a cutting tool and as a result the core material is not scratched, scarred or otherwise damaged. Moreover, it will be seen that apparatus embodying the invention needs only one power means and that it efficiently and effectively strips the covering from a core material without the position of the tool 21 being closely controlled. Kinks and bends are simply forced from the core material 25 by the tool 21 without resulting damage to the core material 25.

It is to be understood that numerous changes and modifications and the full use of equivalents may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

4 What is claimed as invention is: 1. Apparatus for removing the covering from around a core material comprising:

(a) support means;

(b) deforming means carried by said support means for forming a strained zone in the said covering by mechanically deforming said covering, said deforming means including a peripheral edge which is positioned to engage said covering and which is too dull to pierce said covering;

(c) separating means carried by said support means for forcing said covering outwardly away from said core material so that said covering splits in said strained zone; and

(d) means for moving said core material with respect to said deforming means and said separating means.

2. Apparatus for stripping the insulation from a length of insulated wire having a metal core comprising:

(a) support means;

(b) a first reel rotatably carried by said support means for carrying said insulated wire therearound;

(c) a second reel rotatably carried by said support means for receiving the said metal core thereon;

(d) means for rotating said second reel;

(e) a deforming means carried by said support means and positioned between said first reel and said second reel to engage said insulated wire with a dull peripheral edge, said peripheral edge being too dull to pierce said covering;

(f) a positioning roll rotatably carried by said support means and positioned to force said insulated wire against the said periphery of said deforming tool with sufiicient force to form a strained zone in the said insulation;

(g) a stripping cone positioned on said support means to receive said insulated wire after passage between said deforming tool and said positioning roll and adapted to force the said insulation from the said metal core with sufiicient force to tear said insulation in said strained zone.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1913 Pessin 8l-9.5l 7/ 1936 McParlin 81-9.51 XR 8/ 1947 Quayle et al.

10/ 1949 Vermette 81-951 

1. APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE COVERING FROM AROUND A CORE MATERIAL COMPRISING: (A) SUPPORT MEANS; (B) DEFORMING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID SUPPORT MEANS FOR FORMING A STRAINED ZONE IN THE SAID COVERING BY MECHANICALLY DEFORMING SAID COVERING, SAID DEFORMING MEANS INCLUDING A PERIPHERAL EDGE WHICH IS POSITIONED TO ENGAGE SAID COVERING AND WHICH IS TOO DULL TO PIERCE SAID COVERING; (C) SEPARATING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID SUPPORT MEANS FOR FORCING SAID COVERING OUTWARDLY AWAY FROM SAID CORE MATERIAL SO THAT SAID COVERING SPLITS IN SAID STRAINED ZONE; AND (D) MEANS FOR MOVING SAID CORE MATERIAL WITH RESPECT TO SAID DEFORMING MEANS AND SAID SEPARATING MEANS. 